Tennant kicks off stage 2 drilling at promising Bluebird prospect, part of NT Barkly play

Tennant Minerals’ (ASX:TMS) shareholders are retaining small gains heading into mid-afternoon trade as the company announces it has kicked off step-out drilling at its Bluebird prospect, part of the NT-based Barkly copper and gold project. 

A diamond drill rig is on-site currently completing a 10-hole, 3,000m drill run targeting the western edges of the Bluebird prospect to get an idea of how far copper-gold mineralisation goes on at depths below 400m. This 10-hole program will comprise Stage 2 of drilling. 

The company is hopeful it can replicate the results from its Stage 1 drilling campaign which proved the project’s potential with hits of high grade gold and copper. 

What were previous results like? 

In August, Tennant reported the following impressive hits for gold, with grades exceeding the generally accepted 4 grams of gold per tonne of ore (4g/t) high grade threshold: 

• 63m @ 2.1% Copper and 4.6g/t gold from 153m depth 

  • 40.0m @ 3.0% copper and 7.3g/t gold from 155m 

  • 27.5m @ 3.6% copper and 10g/t gold from 160m 

  • 07.0m @ 1.4% copper and 38.5g/t gold from 181m

Worth noting is that the 7m result (detailed last at the bottom of the list above) hit gold qualifying bonanza grades. In other words, over 34g/t. 

In early September, Tennant posted drill results with drastically improved copper results over those assays published in August and featured above.

Tennant found multiple copper hits above 1.5% concentrations, generally considered the threshold for high grade copper. Results included: 

• 40.0m @ 02.6% copper and 1.34g/t gold from 131m depth, including: 

• 24.5m @ 03.9% copper from 146m depth 

• 04.7m @ 15.2% copper from 164m depth 

• 0.08m @ 54.5% copper from 164m depth 

• 17.8m @ 03.7% copper from 277m depth 

• 09.5m @ 06.0% copper from 278m depth 

Whether or not Tennant can replicate the success of Stage 1 drilling remains to be seen, but the evidence of significant mineralisation on-site is clear. 

Potential at West Bluebird 

“We are excited to get this new diamond drilling underway, designed to expand the footprint of the Bluebird prospect and scope the mineral resource potential of this significant copper-gold discovery,” Tennant Minerals chairman Matthew Driscoll said. 

“Our geophysical data has allowed us to fingerprint the Bluebird discovery and shown potential for repeats of the high-grade copper zone to the West of Bluebird.” 

“This is an exciting time for the company as we look to unlock the true potential of what we believe is a major discovery.” 

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